Lousy (satellite) picture on HDTV? (1 Viewer)

[JohnDe]

Recently read a review on a Toshiba 34hdx82. Good review, however the writer says that the picture quality on this and all HDTVs with just a satellite service is lousy. Of course you wouldn't expect HD quality w/o an HD box and signal, but lousy? Is this true?

 

[Lew Crippen]

John, while I don’t know exactly what the reviewer is referencing, the picture on any HDTV is (in general) no worse than on a SDTV. However, it may well seem worse as the additional detail provided by such displays often results in you now being able to see the real picture quality. Both satellite and cable (to a degree) compress some of their signals and that compression often results in a further degrading of picture quality.

HDTV just gives you the ability to see how good the picture is. I’d go and check out the displays for myself and determine how you feel. For sure some retailer will have a satellite feed connected to some HD displays. Have the sales clerk switch to the channels that you normally watch. Then decide for yourself.

 

[Frank Zimkas]

I think that any quality TV is going to make a bad broadcast look worse. Kind of like playing a sub-par CD on a High-End Audio system, the bad will out-weight the good. A blanket statement that all Satelite broadcast willnot look good is a little extreme though. Just my $.02